Highland Park welcomes new center for rhythmic gymnastics
BY CHARLES BERMAN cberman@pioneerlocal.com October 24, 2011 8:24PM
An Illinois Rhythmic Gymnastics Center coach gives Highland Park residents Aminah Allen, 5, and Celeste Courtland, 4, some instructions on stretching. | Darrell Harmon~for Sun-Times Media
Article Extras
Updated: November 28, 2011 8:09AM
Highland Park native Marissa Pierce is a five-time U.S. Rhythmic Team member, was a part of the 2002 world championship team and was named the USA Rhythmic Gymnastics Sportsperson of the Year in 2001.
After competing around the world, Pierce is now back in Highland Park coaching local girls hoping to follow in her footsteps at the new Illinois Rhythmic Gymnastics Center, located in Highland Park’s Karger Recreational Center.
The gym’s grand opening event Saturday featured Pierce and additional performances by current state champions as well as a trial rhythmic class for interested children three years old and up.
The owner and founder of IRGC is Irina Vdovets, a 2007 U.S. Gymnastics Hall of Fame inductee and former Olympic coach. She has been teaching rhythmic gymnastics across the North Shore for 20 years, but now her sport has a permanent home in Highland Park.
“It’s a super big gymnasium with high ceilings,” an excited Vdovets said before the grand opening at the Karger Center. “It’s really an ideal facility for training in rhythmic gymnastics.”
The sport, an Olympic event since 1984, is similar to traditional gymnastics but the only event is the floor exercise. The routines are coupled with ropes, clubs, hoops, balls and ribbons, combining elements of ballet, gymnastics, dance and apparatus manipulation.
“An Olympic committee member once called it the perfect activity for a little child because it develops flexibility, hand-eye coordination, balance, strength, rhythmical skills with music, dance skills, and ballet skills,” she said. “Everything that you want for a developing little girl, everything gymnastics offers.
“And it’s fun with the equipment.”
Vdovets added that her program has produced more Olympians than any other rhythmic gymnastics center. In addition to Pierce, her coaching roster includes Sheila Stowe, a national competitor at the Junior Olympics and East/West Championships; and Megan Mallouk, a former international rhythmic competitor with the team Alts Stars.
Vdovets thanked Highland Park Deputy City Manager Patrick Brennan for helping her find her new city-owned space, at 1850 Green Bay Road, which is shared with a nursery school and theater group.
For more information about the Illinois Rhythmic Gymnastics Center, call (847) 363-1559 or visit www.ilrhythmicgymnastics.com.
Comments Click here to view or make a comment